News

Acadia University - International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.    February 01, 2011

On 21 March 2011, which is International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, CRC Cheryl Bartlett will speak about Integrative Science at Acadia University in Wolfville, NS. 

ABSTRACT:  “Interconnectiveness” says Mi’kmaw Elder Murdena Marshall of Eskasoni First Nation wherever and whenever she explains her Mi’kmaw culture.  And then she simply chuckles, while insightfully and merrily continuing to say it, when people tell her the word does not exist in the English language.  Murdena’s “interconnectiveness” can be viewed as the dynamic of mindfully living within an expanding sense of holistic relationships with everything and everyone, i.e. “all my relations” or “all of Creation”.  Cheryl Bartlett, who is a Canada Research Chair in Integrative Science, will explore “interconnectiveness” in her presentation on March 21 – the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and "almost" the Spring Equinox.  Cheryl will do this using an integrative approach to bringing together knowledges from different epistemic communities.  She will also explain the Integrative Science co-learning journey in Unama’ki – Cape Breton where, for 15+ years, university researchers and Mi’kmaw Elders have been working together (within participatory action research projects) to recognize the strengths in both Indigenous and western scientific knowledges and ways of knowing … and to use these strengths together for the benefit of all.